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Johnson putting Australia in control? Maybe

Australian fast bowler Mitch Johnson has possibly started to push the First Test in Australia’s direction, having taken 4 wickets with the last session on the third day coming to a close. As I type, India is seven wickets down and still some 130 runs short of the Australian first innings. The man that some of us love to hate, Harbajan Singh, is doing a fine job of resistance. As I type, he is on 52 not out, the top score of the Indian innings. One thing that we can never be left in doubt of is Singh’s stubbornness, unwilling to ever lay down before an opponent.

This pitch has apparently been somewhat up and down but from the commentary, it appears more down than up. On such a pitch, a bowler like Johnson is going to be more than a handful. He has a short approach and neat, compact delivery, hitting the deck hard at considerable pace. With variable bounce and the rapidity, for a quick that it it, he gets through his overs, he is back at the batter again and again, with little letup or much of a chance to recover between deliveries. Coupled with an uneven bounce, the batters get little chance of reprieve against a bowler like Johnson.

With two days to go, I suspect that spin is about to start making its presence felt after the quicker bowlers have dominated the bowling action things over the preceding three days. With all due respect to the Australian players, India currently has Australia hopelessly outgunned in that department. In that event, the Aussies will need every run lead that they can and hope like heck that they can nullify the turn Singh and co will no doubt be extracting from here on in.